The Sunflower Declaration : A call to action to protect human rights defenders at risk

August 31, 2023 - The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize focuses the world’s attention on the important role civil society and we as individuals— play in protecting human rights and democracy. When we act to secure human rights—political, civil, social, cultural, environmental, and economic rights—for ourselves and others, we help build just and peaceful societies.

According to the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels.”

Human rights defenders are persons, who individually or in association with others, act to promote or protect human rights peacefully. [1] This can include a great diversity of people such as activists for the environment, women’s rights, LGBT rights, indigenous rights and religious freedom, journalists, and union representatives. Concretely, they inform people about their rights, document abuses, speak out against oppression, and call for accountability for crimes. Human rights defenders have helped improve our laws and systems, promoted policies and standards where they are lacking, made vital resources and privileges available to more people, broadened understanding and respect for humans regardless of our strengths or vulnerabilities [2], and are indispensable to achieving progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Peace cannot exist without human rights, and human rights cannot exist without those who defend, promote, and protect them.

Growing Risks

As humanity faces multiple crises, the ability of human rights defenders to safely do their work is a precondition for creating positive and lasting change. [3] And yet, in a time of rising authoritarianism, growing inequalities, unsustainable economic growth, and opaque algorithm-steered disinformation, perpetrators increasingly threaten human rights defenders and the space in which they work for what they do or who they are. As a result, according to Front Line defenders 2022 Global Analysis, for the first time, the HRD Memorial documented more than 400 target killings of human rights defenders.

Rising authoritarian tendencies [4] all over the world challenge the work, security, and well-being of defenders. To maintain power, these regimes repress freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and freedom of association—rights that are fundamental to human rights work. They manipulate historical memory to impose their views on society. Authorities capitalize on crises—including environmental disasters, war, pandemics, and displacement—to crack down on civic freedoms and further restrict the ability of human rights defenders to do their work. They use laws to target civil society and human rights defenders, and to marginalize their position in society. New technology strengthens authorities’ ability to surveil and persecute as well as implement weaponized laws within and across borders. Facing harassment, detainment, and violence at home, some defenders are forced to flee. Yet, in exile, states do not protect them or facilitate their continued work. Meanwhile —and at times hand in hand with authorities— businesses prioritize profit over the environment and people’s rights. In addition, states fail to protect defenders from harassment and extra judicial killings by non-state actors or to secure accountability.

The vast majority of attacks on human rights defenders rest in impunity. This is unacceptable. There must be tangible consequences for those who harm human rights defenders if we wish to safeguard our democracies and, ultimately, peace. On a systemic level—to ensure that human rights defenders are empowered and enabled to continue their work—governments must adopt international standards and then consistently fulfill these responsibilities. In addition, they must publicly recognize human rights defenders’ contribution to sustainable peace and consequently consistently provide political, financial, and practical support to them wherever they are at risk.

We Nobel Prize laureates, alongside civil society actors, experts, and others, call for urgent action to protect human rights defenders at risk on a coordinated, global scale. We call on:

Democratic Governments to:

Introduce a flexible, rapid response, temporary protective visa system for human rights defenders facing imminent danger. It should allow for multiple entries over a longer period of time, providing those in need the option to swiftly temporarily relocate with their family. States should increase transparency and consistency in the application and issuance process.

Develop a plan of action to seek the unconditional and immediate release of political prisoners, increase access to prisoners and information related to prisoners’ medical conditions and treatment, demand judicial accountability for crimes committed, and make these above-mentioned point conditions of bi-lateral and multilateral agreements.

Curb the practice of criminalizing and harassing human rights defenders through the use and abuse of law relating to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, the misuse of counter-terror and state security legislation to charge human rights defenders, and the application of onerous reporting and regulatory requirements to limit their effectiveness.

Combat transnational repression of human rights defenders in exile. Governments should train officials to recognize and respond to transnational repression, ensure that human rights defenders are protected from extradition requests, exempt them from sanctions targeting their home state, and enable them to continue their work.

Address digital information threats to human rights defenders by implementing the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureates’ 10-point plan.

Create or update official policies for how embassies and diplomatic staff can support human rights defenders including by recognizing their work, raising their cases with host authorities, monitoring and attending court proceedings, setting up secure communication channels, supporting access to relief programs, and ensuring structured follow up of
guidelines implementation.

Multilateral Organizations, including the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States, the African Union and The Association of Southeast Asian Nations to:

Encourage their member states to hold perpetrators to account through existing and new international legal mechanisms.

Make 1) monitoring abuses against human rights defenders; 2) release of political prisoners; and 3) obstruction of lawfare conditions of bi-lateral and multilateral agreements.

Introduce systems for safeguarding human rights defenders from transnational repression including extradition claims based on trumped up charges, an example of which is Interpol’s Red Notice system.

Businesses and investors (particularly high-risk sectors for defenders, including mining, agribusiness, logging, and energy) to:

Adopt and comply with guidelines from OECD and UN on business and human rights and adopt a publicly facing, gender sensitive, human rights policy. The policy should make reference to the legitimate work of human rights defenders, commit to meaningful stakeholder engagement with them, strengthen due diligence processes, pledge zero-tolerance for retaliation against defenders who expose human rights violations, and lay out mechanisms for accountability.

Refrain from engaging in Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs) targeting human rights defenders, and publicly commit to doing so.

Donor organizations to:

Enable human rights defenders through rapid, flexible, stable, and accessible long-term funding, nuanced financial reporting requirements which protect defenders from lawfare, and greater investment in organizations working to provide holistic protection to human rights defenders at global, regional, and national level.

Cities and Universities to:

Establish “shelter cities” and “shelter study spaces” initiatives from which defenders can continue their work safely while processing their experiences and rebuilding physical and psychological strength.

Signatories:

Nobel Peace Laureates

1. Viasna on behalf of Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Laureate 2022
2. CCL, Nobel Peace Laureate 2022
3. Memorial, Nobel Peace Laureate 2022
4. Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Laureate 2021
5. ICAN - the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Peace Laureate 2017
6. Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate 2014
7. Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate 2011
8. Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate 2011
9. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate 2003
10. Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate 1997
11. Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate 1992

Organizations and Individuals

1. African Human Rights Coalition
2. African Parliamentarians Association for Human Rights (AfriPAHR) Steering Committee
3. Aleksandr Voronov, Director, Coming Out LGBT Group
4. Araminta
5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
6. Association for Democracy Assistance and Human Rights (DEMAS)
7. Austausch – For a European Civil Society
8. Bruce Mutsvairo, Associate Professor, Media and Performance Studies, University of Utrecht
9. Burma Center Prague
10. Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
11. Can Dündar, Journalist, Turkey
12. Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) at University of York
13. Češi Tibet podporují / Czechs Support Tibet
14. Coalition 5 a.m. Ukraine
15. Crude Accountability
16. Dalius Čekuolis, Ambasasador for Human Rights and Gender Equality, Government of Lithuania
17. Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Denmark
18. David R. Boyd, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
19. Democracy Research Institute/Human Rights Center
20. Dr. Julie Posetti, Deputy Vice President International Center for Journalists, Research Associate University of Oxford/University of Sheffield
21. Epress
22. Equality Now
23. European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
24. European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
25. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
26. European Endowment for Democracy
27. European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
28. Fernanda San Martin Carrasco, Director, The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB)
29. Fernand De Varennes, United Nations, Special Rapporteur on minority issues
30. Freedom House
31. Front Line Defenders
32. Fund for Global Human Rights
33. Gila Cotler, CEO, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
34. Hala Ahed, Lawyer, Jordan
35. HCAV
36. Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor
37. Hillel Neuer, Executive Director, United Nations Watch
38. Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation
39. Hrystyna Kit, founding member of JurFem Ukrainian Women Lawyers’ Association
40. Human Rights Centre ZMINA
41. Human Rights Foundation
42. Human Rights House Foundation
43. Human Rights Movement "Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan"
44. Human Rights NGO "Citizens’ Watch", St. Petersburg, Russia
45. Human Rights Watch
46. Ingjerd Schou, Member of Norwegian Parliament, head of PACE delegation, Conservative Party
47. International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
48. International Dalit Solidarity Network
49. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory
50. for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
51. The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB) Steering Group
52. International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
53. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
54. Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, Executive Director, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
55. Julia Kharashvili, Chair person, IDP Women Association "Consent", Georgia
56. JurFem
57. Justice and Peace Netherlands
58. Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
59. Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law
60. KLP, Norway
61. Kyiv Dialogue
62. Kyrgyzstan’s Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society
63. Leonard Hammer, University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies, United States
64. Legal policy research centre, Kasakhstan
65. Leonid Drabkin, OVD-Info, Russia
66. Luminate
67. MachsomWatch (Checkpoint Watch)
68. Morris Tidball-Binz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
69. Moscow Helsinki Group
70. Nadia’s Initiative
71. Nahla Yousif, Women Human Rights Defenders in Darfur, Sudan
72. Netherlands Helsinki Committee
73. Nobel Women’s Initiative
74. Norwegian Helsinki Committee
75. Norwegian Human Rights Fund
76. Open Society Foundation
77. People in Need
78. Physicians for Human Rights Israel
79. Protection International
80. Rasheed Draman, Executive Director, African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA)
81. Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
82. SafeMuse
83. Socioscope Societal Research and Consultancy Center
84. SOVA Research Center
85. Start Point
86. Telenor, Norway
87. The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House
88. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee
89. The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
90. The Public Verdict Foundation, Russia
91. The Swedish OSCE-network
92. The World Movement for Democracy
93. Transparency International
94. Transparency International Anticorruption Center, Armenia
95. Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
96. Washington Office on Latin America
97. William Paul Simmons, Director, Human Rights Practice Program, University of Arizona, United States
98. World Liberty Congress
99. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
    
100. Yuri Manvelyan, editor, Independent Journalists’ Network NGO

Cities

1. Shelter City Batumi
2. Shelter City Cotonou
3. Shelter City Dar es Salaam
4. Shelter City Kathmandu
5. Shelter City Lyon
6. Shelter City San José
7. Shelter City Tbilisi
8. Shelter City Telavi
9. Shelter City York

Universities

1. Hajvery University, Lahore, Pakistan
2. Linköping University, Sweden
3. Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
4. Malmö University, Sweden
5. Umeå University, Sweden

[1] Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

[2] Success through perseverance and solidarity: 25 years of achievements by human rights defenders, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

[3] As expressed by Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “full compliance with human rights is the best antidote to the inequalities, unaddressed grievances, and exclusion which are often at the root of instability and conflict.”

[4] A record 42 autocratizers with 43% of the world’s population – up from 33 countries and 36% of the population last year.” Varieties of Democracy most recent report(p6)